Amazon has defended its newly revised seller cancellation charges, stating that the penalty is designed to encourage reliable order fulfilment and applies only in a small fraction of cases.
In a statement to FPJ, an Amazon spokesperson said the revised cancellation fees for its Easy Ship and Self-Ship sellers are meant to push timely and dependable fulfilment, and clarified that the charge is conditional, kicking in only when a seller initiates a cancellation. Amazon noted that such cancellations account for less than 1 percent of orders on Amazon.in.
The Amazon spokesperson said, “Customer and seller experience is at the heart of everything we do at Amazon. We expect orders placed by customers to be fulfilled reliably by sellers on our marketplace. To encourage timely and dependable fulfilment, we have revised cancellation fees for Easy Ship and Self-Ship sellers. This fee is conditional and only applies in the rare event of a seller-initiated cancellation, which accounts for less than 1 percent of orders on Amazon.in. We have appropriate measures in place to ensure sellers are protected when cancellations are due to circumstances beyond their control.”
The clarification comes days after Amazon rolled out a graded cancellation fee structure for Easy Ship and Self Ship sellers, ahead of the festive shopping season. Under the revised structure, the fee is tied to order value - orders below Rs. 10,000 draw a 10 percent charge, those between Rs. 10,001 and Rs. 50,000 attract 8 percent, orders between Rs. 50,001 and Rs. 1 lakh carry a 5 percent fee, and orders above Rs. 1 lakh are charged 2 percent, with 18 percent GST applicable on top.
The fee is triggered when a seller cancels an order for reasons unrelated to the customer, or fails to dispatch and confirm an order within 24 hours of the estimated shipping date. Cancellations requested by customers are excluded. Amazon is separately raising its closing fee from September 7, by Rs. 1 for products priced up to Rs. 500 and by Rs. 3 for those above that threshold.
Rival Flipkart has also introduced a graded penalty system for sellers, effective August 23, with charges of Rs. 30 for missing a dispatch deadline, Rs. 60 for cancelling an order after it's been received, and Rs. 90 for missing the dispatch window and then cancelling.
